Coast to Capital (C2C) is one of 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships designated by Government to lead efforts to enable economic growth and it has just submitted its draft Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) to Government.  The SEP highlights the areas ambitions for economic growth and gives details of the investment required to realise these ambitions.

C2C are inviting comments on the Plan over the next few weeks before the final version is submitted to Government in March 2014. The Plan looks at CWS and suggests that there is substantial opportunities for the development of employment space in Bognor Regis and Shoreham, with employment growth potential across many industry sectors including advanced engineering, digital media and the creative and tourism sectors. Worthing is featured as a place of potential strong economic growth if the right conditions are met.

The LEP has pledged to deliver exceptional growth and productivity gains. The proposal outlines a six year programme of private and public sector investment of around £5 billion, which will create 42,000 new jobs, 28,000 homes and deliver 445,000 sq metres of employment space. C2C invites the Government to invest around £558m of Local Growth Fund in the programme.

C2C is currently the fourth most productive LEP area but the Partnership believes the economy underperforms when you take into consideration factors such as transport connections and other related infrastructure needs, the skills of the local workforce and the competitive strengths of businesses in the area.

You can read and comment on the draft Strategic Economic Plan in full by clicking here